Advocacy

AARP volunteers and staff from Kansas and Missouri attend a presidential campaign rally in Kansas City, Missouri in February 2016

The following is testimony provided to the Kansas House and Human Services Committee on February 3, 2016 by AARP Kansas Director Maren Turner.

AARP Kansas volunteers and staff fanned out across the Statehouse in the first week of the legislative session delivering messages, attached to cookies, about the Kansas CARE Act that AARP is hoping to get passed into law this session. The sweet treat delivery was part of AARP’s 3 rd annual “Cookie Day at the Capitol,” to call attention to issues important to Kansans as they age.

On Wednesday, February 3, 2016, the Kansas House Health and Human Services Committee will hold a hearing on House Bill 2058, the CARE Act. The CARE Act, introduced at the request of AARP Kansas to support the state's more than 345,000 caregivers, will assist caregivers when the person for whom they are providing care is released from the hospital. The CARE Act allows hospital patients to designate a caregiver whose name is recorded in hospital records. If a caregiver is designated, the hospital must notify the caregiver when the patient is to be discharged and must give instructions on how to care for the patient.

Now that 2015 has come to a close, tax season is just around the corner and with it comes our nation’s largest scam: IRS fraud. IRS scams are the most common con and pose a continued threat to the American taxpayer. Using threats and intimidation, phony IRS agents have stolen millions of dollars out of the pockets of hard working Americans. Each year we see more sophisticated tools and technology being used to generate doubt and panic in even the most logical and educated taxpayer.

AARP is honoring the 40 million Americans – more than 345,000 from Kansas – who help older parents, grandparents, spouses and other loved ones live independently at home, where they want to be. The unpaid care they provide – managing medications, cooking meals, driving to appointments, performing complex medical tasks and more – is valued at about $4.1 billion annually in Kansas alone.

AARP Kansas Advocacy Volunteer David Wilson provided testimony at the Atmos Energy rate hike request public hearing on December 1, 2015 in Overland Park. Wilson was the only member of the public to speak at the hearing which was live-streamed on the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) website.

When Westar Energy and Kansas City Power and Light (KCP&L) asked for rate increases earlier this year, AARP Kansas pushed back on behalf of the nearly one million Kansas customers who would be impacted by higher electricity bills. AARP fought to protect their hard-earned money so they could afford to keep the lights on.

Kansas Voters Also Oppose Efforts to Raise Fixed Monthly Costs for Electric and Gas Service

If you’re a Westar Energy customer, are you ready to see your utility bills go up? That’s what’s going to happen if the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) grants Westar’s request for a $152 million (almost 8%) annual rate increase. Residential customers with average monthly consumption of 900 kilowatt hours of electricity would have an average monthly increase of $13.